• Christopher Ahrends has been teaching the Marquette and Milwaukee community about the concept of nonviolent peacemaking on campus this week.
• Ahrends served as a full-time priest and chaplain to South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu for 18 years.
• Ahrends now tries to spread peace to individuals by focusing on finding peace within through reflection, meditation and prayer.

The former chaplain to South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been teaching the Marquette and Milwaukee communities about the concept of nonviolent peacemaking this week.

Christopher Ahrends, the 2008-'09 Peacemaker in Residence of Marquette's Center for Peacemaking, was chosen because he is well known to Marquette faculty and students, said the Rev. G. Simon Harak, director of the center.

Ahrends arrived on campus last Thursday, and will leave tomorrow night.

Although this is his first time to Milwaukee, Ahrends has been teaching Marquette students in South Africa through the university's service learning program in Cape Town since the program began four years ago.

"He's had a positive impact on everyone with whom he engaged with in the service learning project in Cape Town," Harak said of Ahrends. "We didn't want his expertise to be limited only to Marquette students who went to South Africa, so we decided to bring him here."

Harak said the center brings a Peacemaker in Residence to campus annually so community can experience the breadth of peacemaking through the different personalities of peacemakers.

During Ahrends' 18 years as a full-time priest, he said he developed a vision for peace at three levels: peace between individuals, peace throughout large groups of people and peace within.

"Peace within is right at the very heart of peace," Ahrends said. "We have to ask, 'Do we have peace within ourselves?' Everything else flows from peace within."

Ahrends said working with Archbishop Tutu was quite challenging because of the famous South African political activist's high standards, but it was also profoundly moving.

"It provided me access to Tutu's spirituality and vision," Ahrends said. "Tutu is a very, very gifted person, and also a very centered person who takes a lot of time for reflection and prayer. His values certainly rub off on the people around him."

According to Harak, the Peacemaker in Residence has several duties during his stay on campus: Ahrends teaches in different classes and participates in lunch symposiums to exchange ideas with students and faculty in a less structured, more creative way. The Peacemaker in Residence also gives one set presentation for the whole community.

Ahrends is conducting a series of presentations that discuss the power of non-violent peacemaking. The final part of the three-session series is tomorrow in room 254 of the Alumni Memorial Union from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Ahrends also conducted a retreat on Saturday in the AMU. He said the intention was reflection on the inner personal peace one needs to make outer peace in the world.

Alexander Wilke, a sophomore in the College of Business Administration, attended the retreat.

"(It) allowed everyone to take a break from the business of life for a few hours," Wilke said. "We focused on the peace within us through meditation and reflection."

After spending most of the 1980s in a general social struggle for peace in South Africa, Ahrends said that now he is focused on contributing to the growth of peace on an individual level by inspiring action.

"What is love if it isn't an action—just a feeling or an emotion? It is nothing," Ahrends said. "The same reasoning holds true for peace."